Beyond Mirrors
by chemiskorpion0002
Summary: Sharingan. The gift and curse of his clan. The eyes he wields resemble the life he lives. But beyond his pride and his sharingan - there swirls a deeper story. Beyond mirrors - there is Uchiha Sasuke. A four-part series on Sasuke and his life. 1000-word challenge
1. Riddles

Disclaimer:

Naruto is not mine. Naruto is by Masashi Kishimoto.

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**Beyond Mirrors**

**Riddles**

**(Uchiha Sasuke - Uchiha Itachi)**

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><p>"Sometimes the questions are complicated and the answers are simple."<br>- Dr. Seuss

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><p>The feel of the cloth-bandages against his eyes were comforting. At least, this time he understands the darkness he is seeing. In the end he had always been sheltered from the world – what he saw were merely what he wanted to show him. The darkness he recognized was the black cloth of his back, such that he blocked his view from the world. Until his blood spluttered in his hands, he only saw his brother's back.<p>

"Isn't it time yet?" he asked, his voice came out solid and commanding, or rather, demanding.

"Not yet," came the answer, "Be patient Sasuke. The next time you open your eyes you'll be seeing a whole new world. Things are getting really fun!"

"'_The next time you open your eyes you'll be seeing a whole new world', huh?"_ Sasuke kept his face straight as he mocked Zetsu's words_. "I bet so."_

In the blackness of his vision he could not see him. His silhouette was uncharacteristically absent before his eyes and there was a resounding silence in his soul.

When he opens his eyes, he'll be seeing a whole new world - the world his brother _saw_. For now there is no more Uchiha Itachi to shield his eyes and the eyes that saw all he did not want him to see is now his. Now he is bearing his eyes – the eyes that saw horror he wished to conceal from him.

Maybe now he will be able to see - see beyond what he wanted him to see.

After all there is no bigger riddle in this world than the one whose eyes he is bearing – larger than world and life itself.

To Uchiha Sasuke, Uchiha Itachi is.

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><p>"Tadaima."<p>

Sasuke sprung from his sprawled form in the floor and ran to the front door of their house in animated eagerness, "Okaeri Nii-san!"

Itachi laughed quietly as Sasuke threw himself to him in an over-enthusiastic hug. He ruffled the boy's hair as Sasuke's carefree laugh echoed in his ears.

"Let's play Nii-san!"

"Sasuke. Itachi have his homework to do." Their mother's voice was reprimanding as she eyed Sasuke firmly.

Sasuke's face fell, as he threw a quick glance to his older brother. His frown dissolved to wonder as he watched Itachi thinned his lips for a second, and then forced a smile, "Its okay. I will do them later." Itachi turned to him with a better smile, "Ne Sasuke?"

Sasuke stared at him for awhile before smiling brightly, wondering why his brother had too many different smiles.

* * *

><p>The cave was dark, hollow and silent yet his footsteps weren't heard. Light as a leaf he moved, swift like fire. He walked straight then turned around a soft bend.<p>

"You're here."

Sasuke stopped. A cloaked figure stood in a distance from him. He could barely make out the person by his silhouette. He could only tell the person's head is bowed, concealing his face. "Who are you?"

The darkness of the cave was grave as the cloaked figure slowly raised his head and revealed his sharingan, "It's me. Sasuke."

The voice rang clear in the hollows of the cave and shook tremors through his spine. His sharingan activated itself before he can summon it.

"Did you get a little taller?"

With all the practice he had on masking his emotions, Sasuke replied in equally stern voice, seemingly unaffected, "You haven't changed a bit, especially those cold, merciless eyes."

"Aren't you going to scream and charge straight at me, like the last time?"

"You know nothing of me."

In a blink, Sasuke was behind Itachi, his left hand charged in chidori.

And in a flurry chain of events, Itachi was gone in a mass of flying crows with his voice floating in the cave, "Come to the Uchiha hideout, alone. We'll end this there."

Sasuke furiously stopped and watched Itachi's crows fly in all directions. The look of his eyes before he dissolved in a mass of crows stayed transfixed in Sasuke's mind.

Something struck him.

Why it is that Itachi's eyes, while cold and blank, never had _that_ flash, a real one?

Even just a glint.

Itachi's eyes are blank and cold but it didn't have that glint. At least he never saw.

He knew Itachi's eyes. He knew the traces, glints and colors that swirl and play in his eyes, crimson or not. He knew them even those that he cannot place nor understand.

Yet he knows them, recognizes them.

He knew Itachi's eyes, even if he doesn't understand. Maybe he knew even those Itachi did not want him to know. And now, as he stares at his crows, Sasuke thought, "_Why Itachi's eyes are void of that intent?_"

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><p>His eyes flew open, in an expression that can easily be mistaken for fear. But it was not – far from fear.<p>

It was recognition.

The poke in his forehead and his brother's smile – how many years had passed?

Too long he forgot how it felt.

He watched Itachi's face in childish expression of disbelieve and defiance. That gentle expression in his lips and the way his brows smoothened in relief, Sasuke stared in a chaos of emotion. Right now, in front of him is his brother; in front of him is his nii-san.

It is, finally, Itachi – his brother.

It's been a long, long time.

But the blood flowing freely from the sides of his mouth and the exhausted air he was exuding were out of place. He wanted to reach out and catch him from his fall, like how Itachi always did to him when they were kids. He wanted to shout for his brother to watch out as he will hit the ground, as how Itachi used to always warn him when he does something dangerous. He wanted to scream but he cannot. He wanted to close his eyes and wake up, but it was not a dream.

Sasuke felt himself shatter as Itachi _smiled_ and said, "Sorry Sasuke. There won't be a next time."

The gears in his brain burst in refutation as he screamed to himself. _"There won't be a next time? No next time? Nii-san always says 'Sorry Sasuke. Maybe some other time' No! You never say 'This is it'! Nii-san!" _

He felt the trickle of Itachi's blood from where his fingers poked his forehead. The blood trickled down his face instead of tears he wanted to shed. As he watched his brother fall to his death, disbelief and denial roared in his consciousness.

"_Nii-san." _Sasuke murmured weakly as he collapsed next to his fallen brother, and his mind was playing his brother's smiles.

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><p>"Lying… You're lying. You're lying. You have to be…"<p>

Madara watched him in silence. Realizing the life Itachi led can leave any sane human to madness. The pain the Uchiha prodigy had to bear alone, the guilt of killing his family and his clan, the hate that replaced the love and admiration his brother felt for him, the nobility of his every action that was covered and left unsaid, yet Itachi remained sane and firm. It was not an ordinary feat or ordinary life. Uchiha Itachi led a great, honorable yet tragic life. If any random soul could feel the pain of hearing the story, Madara wondered how the younger brother would feel – the brother Itachi protected till his last breath. Uchiha Madara remained silent, letting the chaos of emotions wreck the young Uchiha. Behind his mask is a straight face, waiting for Sasuke to break, and then he will dive for the kill. After all, Sasuke is an integral part of his plan. He cannot be missed.

"It makes no sense…" Sasuke murmured his confusion. That last moment of his battle with Itachi was screaming in his head. He fought, fought for sanity to keep what he believed in, fought to deny the reality dawning to him. He threw Madara a sharp glare with a quick change in his expression, "I came within an inch of dying over a dozen times."

"If Itachi had been really serious, we wouldn't be having this conversation."

Madara spoke but mostly Sasuke wasn't entirely listening. It was not because he could not believe what he was saying. It was mostly because Madara was explaining almost every single guess he had about his brother. He was confirming things.

Every revelation Sasuke hears he refuted, not to Madara though it appears as such, but more to himself. Every expression that suggests realization wasn't because of the older Uchiha, it was because of the puzzle suddenly fitting into place. Piece by piece, one by one, everything Sasuke couldn't place before, from the beginning, were falling into place, like a large mural slowly unveiling before his eyes.

Madara was speaking again, "Your safety was his number one pri-"

"Enough!" Sasuke bellowed, in frustration more than in anger, "Lies! This is all –"

"You're still alive aren't you?"

Sasuke stopped. His eyes wide open, staring to nowhere in front of him. He wanted Madara to stop. He did not want to listen. He did not want to. Itachi's words reverberated in his head and he knew he had to listen.

Madara started to get up from his seat, "Your eyes didn't see through Itachi one bit. Every single illusion he created, you accepted. Itachi killed his friends... his superiors... his girlfriend... his father... his mother... But he couldn't kill his little brother. Crying his bloody tears, he killed his emotions, exterminated his kinsman to save his village... But he couldn't kill you." Madara crouched in front of him, "Is this getting through you?" The kunai he was holding sliced through the ropes that bound Sasuke, "To him, your life was more important than the village."

He did not move nor budge, "_Didn't see through?_" Sasuke shut his eyes painfully.

* * *

><p>The sounds of the waves crashing through the rocks were unknown to him as he recalled his brother's last words. The tears he wasn't able to shed back then was flowing too freely from his eyes. The emblem of the Uchiha was embossed proudly in his back. A large black hawk flew to the vastness of the ocean before him and its loud, piercing screech broke through the sound of crashing waves.<p>

"Our group will no longer be known as Hebi. From now on, we refer to ourselves as Taka." His voice was as sharp and clear as the hawk's.

He knew on his back Madara is there – watching. He did not mind. Let him believe what he wanted to believe. Let him believe he believed every single word he said. Let him believe he explained Itachi. Sasuke looked up to the horizon that seemed farther than it is. It was Itachi who explained things to him in the end. His every riddle, from when they were young, was his explanation to Sasuke – his smiles, his actions, his words, his eyes – those are the things Madara did not know that Sasuke did. The things Itachi left him.

"_Liar._" Sasuke thought, "_You were the one that led the Kyuubi to attack Konoha. Nii-san was telling me the truth. Well then, thank you for making things clearer to me. I think I finally can place those that I cannot, and answer the questions I cannot ask."_

The hawk was soaring effortlessly against the background of crimson twilight.

"_Let me play your game Nii-san. This time, I will be their greatest riddle."_

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A/N:

Hebi (Jp) – snake

Taka (Jp) – hawk

Nii-san (Jp) – (seriously people! - -' ) older brother

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><p>First chapter for Beyond Mirrors, next in the 4-Chapter challenge with <strong>Feisu-chan<strong>.

This round's challenge: greater than 1000 words.

Beyond Mirrors is about Sasuke. If you haven't figured that out.

Part of the _Friendship Fics Marathon Challenge: Uchiha Itachi-Uchiha Sasuke_

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><p>AN:

That was hell of an experience. I don't think I'm writing these two again. ^^''

Next chapters will be on Sasuke and someone else or something else that is related to him. And yes, this is all angst, people! All angst!


	2. Purity

Disclaimer:

I do not own Naruto. Naruto is by Masashi Kishimoto.

A/N:

2nd to the series. Sorry it takes me ages to write.

Set several years after the 4th shinobi war.

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**Beyond Mirrors**

**Purity**

**(Uchiha Sasuke - Hatake Kakashi)**

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><p>"The month's last day, no moon – a storm hugs the cedars of a thousand years."<p>

Matsuo Basho

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><p>Nobody suspected such a handsome face was a dangerous missing nin.<p>

His hair was longer now, way way past his shoulders, black as a raven still and his bangs hang before his eyes like it always did. His white undershirt, sticking in his chest with perspiration, showed in the slightly open front of his black yukata. It was a particularly hot day and the market was busy. He was no one but a passing stranger, a face nobody recognizes. Still he earns appreciative glances and blushing smiles. It may have been years and he may have been scarred by lies, battles and war, but Uchiha Sasuke remains immaculately beautiful.

He stood out from the crowd quite easily even if he dressed as any commoner would. He was aloof and cold as he had always been but his eyes are swarming in depth now. Gone were the decades before when his dark, stunning eyes were plain and empty. There were other things that changed and others that stayed. If Sasuke was thinking of those right now, it surely didn't show.

He managed to get through the bustling market place and turned to a ragged road in the left rather peacefully. It leads to a long, beaten path that curves to a rather long bridge. Kusagakure was full of rivers, so bridges are common sight but this particular one seemed the longest. The place appeared uneventful in all though there are some ruins of maybe an earlier bridge a few meters before the curve. Sasuke walked on silently, ignoring the few people walking along and against him.

A glimpse of a strikingly familiar silver wayward hair made Sasuke stop on his track. He was around the curve to the bridge. The figure was standing among the old ruins, silent and alone.

He was in civilian attire but there's no mistaking it. Sasuke stopped to have a better look.

When he showed no signs of noticing Sasuke, the Uchiha decided to walk on. There was an old man getting off the bridge as Sasuke started on it.

"What's this bridge called?" Sasuke asked unceremoniously.

The old man looked up to him, "Kannabi-kyou."

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><p>Kakashi turn off the shower just in time to hear the heavy pelting of the first drops of the early evening storm. It was hard against the roof of his modest apartment. It sounded almost like pointed stones dropping from the sky. He reached for the towel and started to dry himself up. There were roaring rages of thunders. He guessed the storm might last some hours.<p>

Soft but sharp knocks on his door snapped him from his meteorological analysis.

He did a quick ran down of people who'd probably knock on his door at this situation. It's impossible to be Naruto. It maybe storming but the man will never pass on his dinner at Ichiraku. Sakura and Yamato are out in missions. They could not be back too soon. The weather is too dramatic for Sai to pass on. The man must be occupied with a brush and canvass.

That leaves? Emergency mission?

"Just a minute." He called out, drying himself up quickly. He stepped out of the shower with a wary eye. Whoever was there, outside, was shutting his chakra. He put on, quite hurriedly, a loose drawstring black pants and a red civilian shirt, then went to answer the door.

"Sasuke?"

Obviously caught on by the storm, Sasuke was drenched. "I can come in right?"

"Did the storm make you take refuge in the village?" he asked casually, opening the door fully and gesturing his former student in.

Sasuke went inside wordlessly, ignoring Kakashi's question.

He didn't get the chance to visit his teacher's place before he did his little adventure out of Konoha when he was eleven. It is the first time he saw the place. The living room was bare, save for the scattered books that peppered the room. The couch was decent but obviously worn out. There was a coffee table. There were a couple of scrolls carelessly left in the window opposite the main door and there was another door at the left of the window. He was hit by a towel in the face before he could move closer to study the room further.

"Take a shower and change your clothes. You're drenching my place."

Kakashi was pointing the door at the left of the window. Sasuke figured it must be his room. The older man started towards his room and the former student followed.

Once inside, Sasuke surveyed the room as he did to the living room. His bed was, surprisingly, well made. There was a cork board above the bed with notes and bills, and some which he recognized as his former team mates handwriting. An empty bedside table stood to the bed's right. Then there's a small cabinet on the left, next to the window. On top of it were pictures. Sasuke quickly skimmed through them and found what he was looking for - next to the one of the younger Team Kakashi.

"Sasuke."

The Uchiha turned to Kakashi, quite innocently. Kakashi appeared indifferent to his inquiring eyes. He threw a pair of clothes to Sasuke which the former student caught effortlessly.

"Those should fit you. Go."

Sasuke nodded and headed to the shower, not throwing the line of pictures another glance.

Kakashi watched his student carefully. Sasuke is technically, still, a missing nin – a wanted missing nin. He can't go in and out of Konoha without being hunted. After all Sasuke wiped out the village elders. Kakashi felt guilty for being smugly proud of Sasuke's actions for he wanted to do the murder himself.

Therefore what brought Sasuke back to the village? And why is he in Kakashi's place not Naruto's?

Several minutes later, Sasuke went out of the shower with Kakashi's faded pants and midnight blue shirt. The room was quiet but outside was a furious storm. He scanned the room for Kakashi but he seemed out of the room. He threw the towel the laundry basket next to Kakashi's dresser and went to the small cabinet at the side of the only window in the room.

The pictures were lined up on the top of it.

At the far right was the older version of Team 7 with just Naruto, Sakura and Kakashi. There was another with Sai. An older Kakashi with a younger Kakashi – Sasuke guessed must be Kakashi with his father, Konoha's White Fang. They looked ridiculously like each other and both father and son wore their masks. The picture depicted a young Kakashi being carried, playfully, in his father's shoulder. The Kakashi in the picture seemed more cheerful than Sasuke ever saw him. He had no scar and was obviously loved. There was another picture of a younger Sakumo Hatake, still with his mask, and a pretty young woman whose eyes shine like how Kakashi does when he smile – must be Kakashi's mother. Then the old team seven was in the center. He looked at the old picture for awhile before quickly moving on. At the far left were the Yondaime in his Hokage cloak and a younger Kakashi. Sasuke noted that Kakashi's forehead protector was already skewed to the left, covering his left eye and the scar was already there. The next frame was Kakashi in his ANBU uniform, his sharingan eye exposed. Then there was the Yondaime again, and a striking red-haired that smiled like Naruto. Sasuke smiled weakly – Uzumaki Kushina of the Whirlpool. Kakashi was with them in the picture, smiling next to his sensei. Sasuke lingered in the picture. At the center, next to the picture of the old team seven was what appears to Sasuke as Team Minato, Kakashi's genin team. There was the Yondaime, Kakashi, a girl with short dark-brown hair, and another boy who wore goggles, whose dark eyes and hair were black as raven, like himself.

Sasuke stared intently. Uchiha.

"Is that what you came here for?"

Sasuke turned abruptly and saw Kakashi standing at the door, watching him. He didn't know how long Kakashi had been there.

"Your sharingan is from him. Uchiha Obito." It was a statement, a declaration. Sasuke wasn't asking.

Kakashi did not answer. Instead he looked straight to Sasuke. Impassively.

"I saw you in Kusagakure a few days ago. You were in civilian clothes, standing at the foot of the ruins of an old bridge, and was distracted enough that you didn't sense me when I purposely released my chakra." Sasuke met his gaze squarely, "I knew there's a story in that bridge."

Kakashi did not seem fazed. There was a blinding flash of lightning and a deafening roar of thunder right after. The rain was pouring hard, pounding loudly against the roofs and pelting heavily against the night. The air had gone chilly.

"He was your team mate." Sasuke started as he turned his eyes to the picture of Team Minato, "You were the first to be promoted to jounin in your team, only one to eventually become one. You didn't have that sharingan then and were barely a teenager. You later on joined Konoha's ANBU and were known as Sharingan Kakashi. By then, you had that scar and that sharingan."

Kakashi looked up at picture of his old genin team then went back to watching his student, but neither said nor inquired anything.

"Uchiha Obito died in the 3rd Shinobi War, during a mission to destroy a bridge," Sasuke turned back to Kakashi, "That bridge was called Kannabi. You were with him in that mission and before he died, he gave you that Sharingan."

If Kakashi was shocked that Sasuke learned it he did not show it at all. He merely turned a lousy eye to his former student.

"His grave was isolated from most of the Uchiha. I tended to them when I was a kid, after the massacre." There wasn't the old fury and bitterness in Sasuke's voice anymore. "I did not know much of Uchiha Obito but it seemed his grave was relatively well-kept. Somebody else was visiting him, other than me."

The Uchiha graves were in a private cemetery. Even if they were shinobi of the Leaf they were never buried with the others. They had their own. Few people had close enough relationships with the members of prideful clan such that they would pay regular visit to the private land.

"That was you aren't it? Kakashi."

Kakashi moved to close the door before facing Sasuke, "I'm impressed. Took you only a mere couple of days."

"You were my teacher. And I am an Uchiha." The arrogance that seemed genetic to his family sang in Sasuke's voice, "I simply had to piece it together and find the bits that were missing."

"Obito died in that mission – my first mission as a captain, barely a few hours after he awakened his sharingan." It was the piece of information only he, Obito and Rin knew.

"Was the reason you looked after me when I was younger _that_?"

Kakashi raised a brow at the statement and wondered if there was a hint of hurt in his student's voice. "Looked after you?"

Kakashi sounded as if Sasuke asked the most ridiculous of questions. Still the Uchiha's face was plain and cool and his tone was that of absolute certainty. "I was in your team."

Kakashi chuckled and leaned weakly on the wall, folding his arms in his chest.

Sasuke had heard Kakashi chuckle before, when he was way younger, but those chuckles were never true. Kakashi always faked. Now however, there was amusement in Kakashi's laugh.

"You were in that team because of Naruto - to balance the team basically." Kakashi explained casually, "Naruto was at the bottom of the class, you were at the top. Your team being assigned to me was because of you and Naruto."

"I was your obvious favorite," Sasuke declared grandly.

"Obvious favorite." Kakashi repeated the phrase flatly. He tapped the wall with his foot a couple of times before turning to Sasuke, "Why did you say so?"

"You taught me chidori because I have the sharingan." Sasuke walked over to the window where he stood face to face with Kakashi, "But you were the Yondaime's student, you must have known rasengan. Why didn't you teach it to his son?"

Outside the storm continued to rage. The rain haven't subsided instead it pour more water on the drenched earth. The wind was howling. A couple of broken branches hit Kakashi's bedroom window twice. Inside the room, Kakashi grinned at Sasuke's question. The older man looked curiously younger and refreshed yet there was the hint of a multitude of experience flickering in his dull black eye. "Naruto was easy and eager to find bonds with other people. You were the opposite. When you two became part of my team, Naruto had Iruka then. Later he had Jiraiya-sama. Minato-sensei is Jiraiya-sama's favorite student whom he basically considered his very own son. That basically makes Naruto his grandson."

Sasuke's dark eyes swarmed with highlights as a lightning flashed brightly just outside the window behind him. "And I had none?"

Kakashi ignored the question. "Naruto was simple. You're complicated. While the Kyuubi was the reason why I was factored in for Naruto, you being complicated were why I was factored in for you." Kakashi looked straight to the young man. "We both had difficult childhood. I lost my mother when I was, what, a baby? My father took his life before I reached my teen years. I had no siblings. I'm the last Hatake." Kakashi ran his fingers through his wild silver hair and sighed. Sasuke did not say a word. "While I lost my family one by one, you lost yours all at once, when your brother wiped out your clan."

If it was several years ago, the mention of the massacre would have made Sasuke crazy with anger but time and circumstances change people. Sasuke stood still and listened. Not a single glint of rage in his striking dark eyes.

"Your brother killed your parents in front of you. My dad killed himself, _technically_, in front of me. You held Itachi in the pedestal. Dad was my hero. We were shattered by the people we looked up to. Different ways but the same result – we wore scars that are never seen. But I was still as proud of my heritage as you are with your family name. I was the most brilliant of my generation as you are with yours." Kakashi said it plainly and the statement didn't make Sasuke any prouder than he naturally is. It was a fact, plain and simple. Kakashi continued, "I was a prodigy in the shadow of the White Fang, you are in the shadow of Itachi. Our circumstances were unnervingly similar. You avoided people for the same reason as I did. We don't want to lose anyone anymore. It was our choice to have those bonds no more. It was your choice that you had none at that point. In short," Kakashi watched Sasuke's face carefully, "there was no one else in Konoha who could probably understand you better than me. That's the other 'why' you, Naruto and Sakura were assigned to me."

He had been through the worst horrors and wildest revelations. Time had hardened the soft, vulnerable Uchiha that was lured to Orochimaru by his quest of power and the Sasuke that was shattered at Madara's deceptions and half-truths. The former student pondered the single weary eye that studied him.

"Regarding that favorite matter." Kakashi moved his hands to his pockets, "I spent time with you because I was teaching you chidori. I taught you chidori because you had the sharingan. Only with the sharingan will chidori become effective - "

"You devised the technique after Obito died?" Never one to be polite, Sasuke asks when he wants to ask. And he wanted to know. He had to ask.

"No. Obito completed it."

Kakashi's poker face never faltered but Sasuke noted that his eye grew sober through the conversation. Obito completed it meant _Obito_ completed it.

Sasuke stayed silent.

So did Kakashi.

They stood there, silent, amidst the storm that was frenzying Konoha at the moment.

"_I spent time with you because I was teaching you chidori." _Kakashi rested his head to the wall defeated, "Or maybe I was trying, quite desperately to guide you. Because I knew where you were heading."

It took Sasuke a minute. "What do you mean?"

"Haven't I told you how similar we were?"

Sasuke scoffed at him. Carefully, he pulled out the words as the student watched the teacher, "Were you disappointed that I went after Itachi?"

"I saw it coming."

Sasuke eyed him.

"You're so much like me Sasuke when I was younger." Kakashi seemed suddenly tired. "The way your mind worked was very similar to mine. It was unsettling. Disturbing. It was like watching myself." Kakashi watched the brief flashes of lightning highlight the faint tinge of midnight blue in Sasuke's black hair. "It is partly because I saw _that_ that I tried to give you almost all of my attention."

"You didn't try to stop me."

"I tried to guide you." Kakashi looked at him soberly. "Guide you is all I can do. I can't stop you."

"You didn't try." Sasuke declared flatly.

"I did try. Do you remember? After your fight with Naruto in the hospital rooftop? But really, I wasn't in the position to stop you at all."

Sasuke stared hard at him, "You could have if you tried harder."

"Really?" Kakashi sounded amused, "You think I should have? Or you think I could have?"

Sasuke wondered himself if Kakashi would have. He is an Uchiha – grand, proud and immovable.

Kakashi chuckled drily, "I told you, I can only guide you. I cannot stop you. And you can't be stopped if you didn't want to be stopped. Back then you didn't. You know that Sasuke."

There was no reply.

"I'm no Uchiha Obito." Kakashi mumbled.

There was still pain in Kakashi's voice and Sasuke recognized there is still regret laced with Obito's name – as if everything Kakashi did after Obito died was to cover that regret.

"I was very difficult to understand when I was younger. Ironically the only one who understood was a prideful, stubborn, stupid Uchiha. It was Obito who put me in the right track."

There was yet another episode of silence in the room. The storm outside still raged. The two sharingan wielders seemed to have been transported to their respective younger turbulent days.

Then there was a chuckle. It was Sasuke who chuckled this time. "And in my case that would be a hyperactive, loud, stupid Naruto?"

Kakashi chuckled soundlessly and nodded. "Because neither you nor I would listen to anyone that is rational, nor will we listen to anyone whose voice is peaceful. We are too proud and too dark to do that. Only those words and actions that don't make sense to us will ever get through. Only those that can get us out of our aloof, cool façade can see through us."

Sasuke thought he saw Kakashi smile through his mask.

"Obito and I hated each other as much as you and Naruto hated each other."

It took them several moments. It was Sasuke who spoke.

"Kakashi. Was it out of pity? Or out of obligation?" Sasuke looked up to his teacher, "Or was it out of guilt?"

Kakashi studied him quite carefully. "That's the _only_ question you wanted to ask, right Sasuke?"

The younger did not answer but his dark eyes softened to what Kakashi thought was fear.

"None of the above." Kakashi replied swiftly and gently. For a father doesn't love his son out of anything except love itself. No matter how mindless Naruto can be, how much vulnerable Sakura can be and how dark Sasuke's path had been, he would still kill and be willing to get killed to keep them alive. Every father would.

There are few things that the sharingan misses. It sees through almost every jutsu and even breaks every genjutsu. But Sasuke, with his black raven eyes, saw in that single lazy, black dull eye something his sharingan would have not comprehended.

There sailed a very long silence. The storm started to lose its rage and the rain slowly faded to a soft drizzle and yet they stayed hushed in their corners. No longer were there the violent lightning and the piercing thunders. Long minutes passed mutely that the air went from chilly to cool.

There something damp that stained the beautiful face of the Uchiha. Sasuke spoke as quietly as a whisper could be. "Arigatou. Arigato sensei."

Kakashi chose not to say a word as he felt something misty cloud his eyes. You see, Sasuke never called him sensei.

It _was_ always been Kakashi.

~0~0~0~

A/N I:

Cedars (Sugi) are sacred symbol in Japanese society. It is associated to old holy and ancient religious, and therefore has sacred connotations. It is commonly planted around temples and shrines. I specifically chose this verse for this chapter for I deem that the old, thousand years' cedar represent, with a big leap of depiction, the relationship of the student and the teacher.

Arigato (Jp) – can also be spelled 'arigatou', it means 'thank you' in English

Sensei (Jp) – honorific used to address a mentor, in general, not really specific to teacher. For instance, doctors are also addressed name-sensei.

Kannabi-kyou means Kannabi bridge. The '–kyou' is a shortened version of words to mean bridge.

* * *

><p>AN II:

2nd to the Beyond Mirrors series (also a part of _Friendship Fics Marathon Challenge_): Hatake Kakashi-Uchiha Sasuke.

This fic assumes several instances that are wholly my theories, some of it I wish/plan/hope to write in my later chapters; they are therefore not stated in the anime and/or the manga.

Would you believe this is supposed to be a drabble? But I particularly enjoyed writing this one. I hope you enjoyed reading too.

It took me a long time to see if what I wrote could actually happen. It's a debate to many and maybe wishful thinking in my part. Yet I firmly believe, as long as Sasuke stops to listen to Naruto, it doesn't matter if he says he wants to kill Naruto just after the latter's speech, he's far, far from hopeless.

You see, Kakashi stopped, listened to then walked out of Obito back then as well.

Oyasumi!


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